Dante Portinari
Dante Portinari (ダンテ・ポテナリ; Dantei Potenari) was a Fey and lord of the 3rd Division of Britannia. He acted as the Britannian ambassador to other societies when the chancellor's presence was not required. Dante was responsible for being an end to the Twelfth Division Rebellion. He was also known for traveling to the lowest levels of Hell to hunt a Togabito by himself and return alive. Biography Early years It is unknown who Dante's parents were. However, he was found in the Dark Woods on the outskirts of the 3rd Districts by division members who got lost in the forest. Dante guided the division members to safety and was personally thanked by the 3rd Division's lord. The lord saw that Dante had spiritual potential, inviting the fey to join the Academy for training as a shinigami. Dante immediately accepted the invitation, seeing it as an opportunity to play a role on a larger stage than the Woods he lived in before. However, Dante's entrance to the Academy met mixed reception. The interest in Dante's fey origins made him prone to bullying and distrust. The only ones who seemed to respect him were the shinigami he rescued and the division lord who allowed him entry into the society. Upon graduation, Dante immediately enlisted himself to the third division. His talents quickly elevated him to an aide of the division. He eventually was promoted to Adjutant following the death of the previous Adjutant. 12th Division Rebellion When the Twelfth Division lord rebelled against Britannia, Dante and his lord immediately attempted to diplomatically put an end to the rebellion. They gathered what division loyalists that they could find and attempted to restore order through election of an acting lord for the duration of the crisis. However, Dante's lord was assassinated by a traitor posing as a loyalist, placing Dante in charge of 3rd Division activities during the crisis. Upon the realization that an election was futile, since the division loyalists could not agree on a temporary leader, Dante took matters into his own hands. While the other divisions worked to contain the loyalists, Dante issued a personal challenge to face Lord Iscariot to a duel. Since Dante was still an adjutant, Iscariot was forced to accept the challenge, or else face criticism from his followers for backing down from a lower-ranked officer. The duel began evenly for both combatants. Although Iscariot had considerably more experience, Dante displayed commendable tenacity in repelling the lord's attacks. As the duel progressed, Dante suffered from several gunshot wounds from Iscariot's pistol and increasing weakness from defending against sword attacks. When Iscariot believed that he won the duel, he paused a moment to gloat over his apparent victory. In that moment, Dante cut off Iscariot's hand and shot the lord with his own pistol. Iscariot died instantly. Chancellor William Lepidus commended Dante's bravery, naming him the acting lord until a new leader could take the position. The Inferno Months later, a Togabito named Lilith infiltrated Britannia. She attempted to disguise herself as a member of the 3rd Division, but was soon discovered by Dante's subordinates. Realizing that his district is under attack, Dante immediately set out to fight Lilith, working in conjunction with his comrades. The battle stretched across the entirety of the third district, coming as far as the Dark Woods itself. When Lilith unintentionally started a forest fire through the use of her abilities, she enraged Dante. Lilith responded by setting the entirety of the forest on fire, burning down the entire forest and fleeing back to Hell before reinforcements from the neighboring districts could arrive. Grieved by his lost home, Dante swore revenge and chased the Togabito into Hell without further thought. Dante spent little time in the first level, but was quickly assailed by Togabito in the second level. He was critically injured there, but an unknown woman defended him from the Togabito and took him to safety. The woman addressed herself as Hone Onna, the gatekeeper who gave Dante entry into Hell. Given the interactions he had with the Soul Society, Dante expected a more conventional name and asked Hone Onna about her name. She admitted that she forgot her actual name, due to the events of her past. Dante found her name ridiculous and promised to give her a more proper name when he thinks of one. In the meantime, Dante was forced to stop and recuperate from the wounds he received over the course of his pursuit. Once he rested long enough to continue onwards, Hone Onna volunteered to help guide him into the lower levels of Hell. Dante accepted her help, letting the gatekeeper lead the way. Later on, Dante caught up to and confronted Lilith. Lilith lamented not getting away from Dante, though he responded that no one can escape his sins, a Togabito included. The two fought each other, but Dante was quickly overwhelmed by the Togabito. Hone Onna was forced to save him from a finishing blow, fleeing with Dante's ravaged body. Once he recovered, Dante thanked Hone Onna, deciding to call her Virgilia. Virgilia asked him if he learned bankai and Dante, recognizing she meant his sword's final form, answered no. She tells him that he stood no chance against a Togabito without learning bankai, even then his chances were slim. Dante reassured Virgilia that he was training to learn his final form, but he did not complete his training when Lilith attacked. Virgilia offered to help him finish his training, to which Dante drew surprise, since he didn't expect a resident of Hell to understand these concepts, let alone teach them. Virgilia explained that she served the Soul King before her death and reassignment to Hell. Realizing that Virgilia was a powerful shinigami in her days, Dante asked her for her help against Lilith, explaining to her the reason why he wanted to kill the Togabito. Virgilia was reluctant to assist Dante, explaining that Togabito defeated in battle will eventually be resurrected in the fourth level of Hell. Dante's answer was to continue defeating Lilith until the Togabito loses the will to continue reviving herself in Hell. Although Virgilia still held her own doubts, she agreed to accompany Dante to the end of his journey, despite Dante's urging to continue to the lower levels of Hell, rather than to stop and be taught his soul blade's final stage. In the lowest level of Hell, Dante and Virgilia found Lilith waiting for him. He noted that, despite the heat of the lava, the level seemed colder than he expected. Although taunted by his failures in both Britannia and Hell, Dante charged into battle against Lilith. This time, Virgilia helped protect him, drawing her own zanpakutō. With their combined efforts, Dante and Virgilia were able to defeat Lilith. Despite being badly wounded and barely able to remain standing, Dante urged Virgilia to allow him to finish off Lilith. However, Virgilia denied his request and defeated Lilith herself. Having been deprived of what he hoped to accomplish, Dante screamed in rage. His spiritual pressure intensified, causing cracks in the ground beneath him. Once his initial rage wore off, Virgilia calmly asked him if giving him the chance to avenge his home would have gave him satisfaction. Dante immediately answered yes, but Virgilia asked if it would have brought an end to his anger against Lilith. She explained that, in either case, Dante's wrath would not have been sated. Virgilia tells Dante that anger and hate escalated through the pursuit of vengeance, since both individuals would only hate each other more as vengeance was exacted on each other. The pursuit of vengeance could drag other people into the conflict, breeding anger and hate in more and more individuals. The only way to end the cycle of hate was by forgiving one's sins. Although Dante told her that her views were too idealistic, he admitted that there was truth in her words. Dante told her that he could not forgive Lilith for what she done yet. Weakened by the fight, Dante passed out. Virgilia brought him back to Britannia, through the gates of Hell, so that he can be treated in safety. Upon his return, Dante was immediately demoted for his actions, but he also gained the respect of his colleagues for surviving his journey in Hell. Dante was hospitalized for a month following his return, since he never rested to allow his wounds to fully heal during the various times Dante was injured in Hell. When he finally returned to the Dark Woods, Dante took some measure of comfort upon discovering a fresh flower stem rising from the charred grounds. Operation Neovision Dante was assigned to take part in an operation to take down the arrancar warlord Herrera Tresckow, taking command of a small squad of 3rd Division members to the human world to identify locations to prepare a containment field. The containment field would prevent their target from escaping through a garganta or negación. Because of Dante's extraordinarily large reserves of spiritual pressure, he was given a limiter to avoid unintentionally influencing the local population and was deployed to eastern Russia. Dante's unit was placed under the command of Lord Beatrix von Bähr of the 10th Division. Bähr ordered Dante's men to set up the containment field. The coordinates at which Dante was to place the containment generators put him in close vicinity to a nearby town. The plan was to use the town to lure Herrera out of Hueco Mundo, then hold him in the containment zone to prevent collateral damage. However, when Herrera arrived, the containment field proved to be insufficient to trap the arrancar. Herrera broke free from the field, creating havoc in the operation zone. Bähr herself entered battle in order to control the situation and Dante moved in to assist her. The battle that ensued wounded Bähr, leaving Dante to contend against Herrera by himself. In order to continue to fight on par with Herrera's superior skill, Dante released his final form (bankai). Although, even with the massively increased power granted by his final form, Herrera was able to defeat the adjutant. However, Herrera chose to retreat immediately instead of finishing off the Britannian task force out of fear of reinforcements. Lordship The revelation of Dante learning the final form surprised the division lords, prompting discussion of whether Dante was eligible to take the mantle as lord of the 3rd Division. Half of the lords felt that Dante's conduct involving Lilith suggested impulsiveness while the others praised Dante's leadership during Operation Neovision. Personality and traits Prior to becoming a lord, Dante was shown to be dutiful but impulsive. He often acted on his own, such as when he challenged Lord Anthony Iscariot to a duel in the 12th Division Rebellion, and when he chased the Togabito Lilith into Hell. However, Dante does not regret acting for the well being of his fellow shinigami or to do what he felt was right. While in Hell, Dante's impulsiveness had to be tempered by Virgilia, since he frequently overestimated his own combat prowess. Virgilia taught Dante to be more calculative in his actions, relying less on his emotions and more on rationale. Initially, Dante was hesitant when he was conflicted by his emotions and reasoning, but more frequently went with the logical path instead of his instinctive option. Powers and abilities Although he is a lord, Dante showed little interest in learning spells. Although he admits that spells have their uses, Dante felt that he had no use for it. Immense Spiritual Pressure: Dante's raw energy as an untrained fey was great enough to catch the notice of a Britannian lord. Although he was trained to control his aura, Dante's finesse in controlling his spiritual pressure is noticeably more amateur than other lords of his caliber. He has a tendency to lose control of his pressure when under combat stress, which other lords toted as his greatest weakness as a combatant. Master Swordsmanship Specialist: As a lord of Britannia, Dante Portinari is an excellent swordsman. He graduated from the Academy as a top swordsman and has proven himself to be among the 3rd Division's best swordsmen even before becoming a division aide. Dante proficiently defended the Dark Woods from a strong Togabito by dual-wielding soul swords, despite not possessing a dual-wield type weapon. Shunpo: Dante has captain-level proficiency in shunpo. Immense Strength: Despite being relatively diminutive in height, Dante possesses a surprising amount of physical strength. He was shown to be able to deflect kidō spells with his sword and block powerful blows with one hand. Enhanced Speed: Although he studied flash stepping, Dante had natural agility before his entry into the Academy. He was capable of outmaneuvering flash step-assisted attacks with his own speed alone. Enhanced Reflexes: Dante's intuition as a fey makes him more aware of his surroundings, which he can use in combat to anticipate attacks. This is reflected in his ability to quickly respond to enemy actions. Multilingual: Dante fluently speaks a variety of languages, including Japanese, English, and Italian. Soul Blade Votum (Latin for "Desire Sword"; translates to "Wishblade") is Dante's soul blade. Due to Dante's heavy spiritual pressure, Votum is in the constant release state. *'Released Form': Dante's sword takes the form of a large broadsword with an over-sized guard. The grip cloth is gray while the rest of the blade is black with white edges. Despite its apparent unwieldiness, Dante wields the broadsword with impressive skill. **'Special ability': Dante can call Votum to either hand at will. Although a simple ability in nature, it provides a multitude of uses, including enabling Dante to use his weapon as a projectile, to reposition his weapon to counter enemy attacks, or to materialize it embedded in locations that the weapon would normally not be able to pierce. Not only can Dante call his sword to him, he can teleport himself to the location of his sword. Dante's ambidexterity allows him to fight with his sword in either hand with equal efficiency. *'Final Form': Omni-Votum (Latin for "All-Encompassing Desire Sword"; translates to "Infinite Wishblade") is Dante's ultimate skill. In this form, a dome of swords cover the immediate area, all of which share the characteristics of Dante's released form. Dante can both teleport himself to any of the swords that are summoned or call any sword to himself at an instant. This gives Dante unparalleled levels of speed that allow him to keep pace with the fastest flash steppers without having sufficient skill in shunpo. Dante can also dual-wield swords with this form. Quotes * (Italian) "Nessuno può emendarsi dal peccato che scorre nelle vene." ** "No one can escape the sin that flows in his veins." * (Italian) "Riposa in pace." ** "Rest in peace." Behind the scenes Dante is named after the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri, best known for his ''Divine Comedy'' (''Inferno'', ''Purgatorio'', and ''Paradiso''), and Beatrice Portinari, Dante's muse. The Inferno inspired much of the character. Category:Articles by LaviBookman Category:Character